Abstract:
People pay good money for Quantum Dot Corp.'s products - tiny semiconductors just about 10 nanometers across. To pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers, and diagnostic labs, these "quantum dots" are more valuable than precious metals. They buy small, brightly colored vials, priced from US$300 to $600, each containing trillions of the dots in solution - enough for about 100 tests. Then they look at them. The best thing about Quantum Dot's semiconductor crystals - known as Qdot nanocrystals - is that you can see them: inside cells, under a microscope, or in multiple colors under the same light, depending on their size and composition.